ALP-Greens unity ticket (letter)

by John Barich

News Weekly, October 2, 2010

Sir,

The Gillard/Bob Brown electoral deal, whereby there was a direct swap of preferences between the Australian Labor Party and the left-wing Greens Party, was the beginning of a unity ticket reminiscent of the ALP-affiliated left-wing unions and the communists in the 1950s and '60s.

The deal reached its apex after the election when Gillard agreed to give Greens Senator Bob Brown the right to weekly consultations in exchange for Greens MP-elect Adam Bandt's single miserly vote in the House of Representatives - although at that stage even one ineffective vote must have helped sway the Green-leaning Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie and the two maverick independents from NSW.

The Greens' support for Labor in the Senate does not become effective until July 1, 2011, as the Coalition, plus either Senators Steve Fielding or Nick Xenophon, can vote down legislation until then. So, from now until June 30, 2011, the Senate can still save Australia from such excesses as a badly-targeted mining profits tax, same-sex marriage and euthanasia in the Northern Territory.

The election of a Democratic Labor Party (DLP) Senator John Madigan - in the ALP heartland of Victoria (if the Coalition had not lost two seats in Victoria, they would have had, with Queensland's Bob Katter, the magical 76 seats they needed to form government) - gives hope for some effective resistance to Gillard.